Chapter 5 - Box 314.
The old records archive was two floors below the maternity wing in a section of the hospital that had been replaced by digital storage years earlier.
Leah was not going anywhere near it.
Luca made that decision before she could argue.
"You just told me this concerns my husband."
"It concerns your safety more."
"I am tired of other people deciding what I can handle."
Luca's expression tightened.
"Then decide."
He placed the brass key on the bedside table.
"Stay with Emma and let me check the room first, or walk into an unsecured archive less than an hour after someone forged a transfer order for your child."
Leah glared at him.
She hated that he was right.
"Go."
Nora volunteered to stay with Leah while Luca took two security officers downstairs.
Before he left, Luca gave Leah a small card with a direct phone number.
"Call this if anyone comes through that door without Nora."
"What happens if I call?"
"Every Moretti security officer in the building moves toward this room."
Leah studied the card.
"How many are there?"
"Enough."
That was the closest thing Luca seemed capable of giving to a dramatic answer.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then thirty.
Leah reread Ethan's letter until the words became blurred by tears.
Why had he hidden so much from her?
Why had he trusted Luca with information he had never trusted her enough to hear?
Nora adjusted Emma's blanket.
"You can be angry at him and still miss him."
Leah looked over.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Only because I've seen it before."
The room phone rang.
Both women froze.
Nora checked the screen.
"Internal call."
She answered.
Her face changed almost immediately.
"Who is this?"
A second later, she hung up.
"What happened?"
Nora walked to the door and locked it manually.
"Someone claiming to be from risk management said Luca was detained downstairs and we should prepare you for transfer."
Leah's mouth went dry.
"Did you believe them?"
"No."
She pulled out her phone.
"I'm calling security directly."
Before she could dial, Leah's card vibrated against the table.
It was not a phone.
A tiny light flashed along one edge.
Nora stared at it.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
Then Luca's voice came through the card.
"Leah, stay away from the door."
She grabbed it.
"Where are you?"
"Outside the archive."
"Did you find the box?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"What's inside?"
"Evidence."
"Of what?"
"Someone changed Ethan's medical file before he died."
Leah forgot how to breathe.
Ethan had died after a late-night car crash, but he had survived long enough to reach the hospital.
Doctors had told her his condition was too severe.
There had never been any suggestion that his treatment file was altered.
"Luca, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying the box contains printed medication logs that don't match the digital record."
Nora went pale.
"That's not possible unless someone inside the hospital changed them."
Luca's voice hardened.
"Someone did."
A sharp sound came through the card.
Metal striking metal.
Then Luca spoke to someone away from the microphone.
"Step back."
Leah stood.
"Luca?"
There was another sound.
A struggle.
The connection cut out.
Nora reached for the emergency button.
At that exact moment, someone knocked gently on the door.
"Nurse Green?"
A man's voice spoke from the hallway.
"Transport team."
Nora looked through the narrow glass panel.
May you like
Her face drained of color.
"Those aren't hospital transport uniforms."
